Closure for bottles



Jan. 22, 1963 E. GOLDE CLOSURE FOR BOTTLES Filed March 20, 1962 FIG]FIGS

FIGZ

INVENTOR.

ER/CH 60L DE A TTORNEYJ United States Patent OfiFice 3,74,58@ PatentedJan. 22, 19%3 3,074,580 CLOURE FQR BOTTLES Erich Golde,Tatteukotenerstr. 4, Geretsri-erl, Upper Bavaria, Germany Filed Mar. 20,1962, Ser. No. 180,998 Claims priority, application Germany May 18, 19617 Claims. (Cl. 215-42) The object of this invention relates to a closurefor bottles which, after being put'on, cannot be released, and hence theremoval of the contents of the bottle can no longer be effected, withoutdestruction of a part of the closure.

There are known cap closures which are provided with a'resilient lockingmeans for the purpose of ensuring the closed position. This lockingmeans is locked under a beaded edge on the container mouth when the capis put on, and thus the removal of the cap is prevented. There are alsocaps made of a soft elastic plastic such that it becomes unnecessary tomake a special gasket. As the elasticity or flexibility of the lockingmeans permits easy removal of the closure from the top edge of themouth','this cannot serve as a tight fitting surface or seal. Thesealing of the bottle contents must rather be effected inside the topedge of the month by means of a collar, cup or hollow beading whichprojects from the cap inward adjacent under pressure to the inner mouthWall. In order to prevent the possibility of the lower edge of the capbeing raised bymeans of a small tool such as a penknife, adapted topress outward. the projections of the locking means and thus release theclosure, a'special ring-shaped intermediate member of'harder materialhas been. suggested, which rests on a ledge of the bottleneck, andsurrounds and accommodates the lower edge ofthe closure cap. Thisintermediate member, however, makes the closure cap more expensive andharder to apply.

The construction of the closure cap according to the present inventionavoids these disadvantages and at the same time makes possible the useof the closure cap even for a plastic blown bottle whose mouthpiece iselastic.

According to this invention a soft resilient plastic is provided asmaterial for the closure cap in order to make possible the insertion ofthe inward projecting sealing rim or heading into the bottle mouth whilethe locking memher which is set in the cap is made of a harder plasticor similar material. Further, the locking member has the form of ahollow truncated cone which has a strong circular bottom or beaded edgeconstituting about A of the height of the cone and a number of slits orslots extending from the top down approximately over the remaining 4 ofthe height of the cone. As a result of these slits the locking membercan be easily slid over an outer beading provided on the container mouthor neck as the slits allow the cone segments to spring apart. ing mustof course have a greater outside diameter than the upper diameter of thetruncated cone so as to permit a locking action between the two.However, as soon as the locking member is locked under the abovementioned beading, the locking member and hence the closure cap can nolonger be removed upward or lifted off in spite of the fact that thewall thickness of the cap may be only about 0.5 to 1 mm. so as toprovide for the necessary resilience, as the hardness or stiliness ofthe material chosen for the fabrication of the locking member preventsthe bending or folding in of the cone sections. The lower edge of thelocking member is firmly supported on a circular beading of the skirt ofthe cap projecting radially inward and desirably has a wall thicknessabout twice or three times that of the slit part of the truncated cone.Above the said circular heading the skirt of the cap projects inward andabuts close to the wall of the The outer beadtruncated cone for aboutone quarter of its height. In the circular groove or recess formed onthe inside of the cap skirt, the lower beaded ring or edge of thelocking member is tightly received, whereby the said upper and lowercircular limits of the groove keep the locking member of the cap, andhence the locked cap itself, from being displaced in an axial directionupward or downward. The said groove also prevents the locking memberfrom sliding out of position in the cap while the latter is being lockedin place on the bottle.

The invention is described more fully below with reference to FIGS. 1 to4.

FIGURES 1, 3 and 4sl1ow cross sectional views of different typicalembodiments of the novel cap closure emplaced on bottle necks oropenings.

FIGURE 2 is a plan view of the locking member shown in FIGURE 1. p Thebottle neck 1 has at or below its mouth an annular outer heading 2,which serves as a support or stop for locking member 3 after mounting ofthe cap closure on the bottle mouth. The cap closure consists of twocooperating thermoplastic parts, a unitary cap 4 and a separate springor locking member 3, the latter beingsnappedinto place or otherwisetightly held in the latter. Cap 4 is provided with a depending,downwardly open sealing collar '5 adapted to form a tight seal with theinner wall of the bottle mouth. However, instead of the collar beingopen at the bottom, it can be in the form of a cup or depression 6 asshown in FIGURE 3, or a hollow heading 7 as shownin FIGURE 4. In orderto ensure a good seal a the cap is desirably made of a resilient,flexible thermoplastic resin, for example, polyethylene or the like. Theouter cover or skirt 8 of cap 4 has near its lower edge a radiallyinward projecting annular beading 9, which may be arranged about to 10mm. below the outer heading 2 of the bottle neck, and serves to supportthe lower beaded edge of the locking member 3.

Locking member 3 can be suitably made of a harder or stifferthermoplastic resin, such as so-called low pressure polyethylene(prepared for instance, by the method described in Belgian Patent 533,362 of Karl Ziegler) or polystyrene, and has the form of a hollowtruncated cone, with an angle of inclination of to From the top down thetruncated cone cover is slotted for about A of its total height, andpreferably has a lesser wall thick ness (about 0.5 to 1 mm.) in itsslotted upper portion than in the solid bottom portion. The slots 14)are shown in FIGURE 2. They can, of course, have difierent forms andwidths and be provided in a different number than that shown. The lower,considerably thicker edge 15 of the locking member is firmly and tightlysupported. on the aforementioned annular heading 9 in the wall or skirtof the cap. Above annular beading 9 and above the lower edge of thelocking member the outer cover 8 slants inward into the cap so that anannular groove or circumferential recess having a conical inside wall isformed on the inside of the cap skirt, which recess thus interfits withthe conically shaped outside surface of the beaded ring of the lockingmember and prevents the locking member from sliding up or down withinthe cap in an axial direction.

Desirably the locking member 3 is pressed into cap 4 before use of theclosure until the lower edge of the locking member is locked in recess11 on the inside of cover 8 of the cap. When the bottle closure is thenplaced on the bottle mouth the contents of the bottle cannot be removeduntil after the closure or a part of it is destroyed. Thus, for example,the cover plate 12 of cap 4 can be punctured, or the tip of the pouringspout 13 shown in FIGURE 4 can be cut off. Still other variations andmodifications of the invention will occur to those skilled in the artwithout departing from the spirit and sealing collar depending from saidcover portion and. 1

adapted to form a seal with the inner wall of said bottle mouth, and askirt depending fromsaid cover portion and spaced radially outward: fromsaid collar, thereby being adapted to skirt over the outer mouth wall ofsaid bottle,.said skirt having a circumferential recess in a lowerportion of its inner wall;v and said locking member comprising a thinhollow truncated cone provided with a plurality of slotsextending fromthetop down over a major portion: of its height and having a solidbottom beaded edge. of a dimension such that it is adapted to betightly: received in saidrecessof. the skirt, said truncated cone. beingdimensioned such that. it isadapted to slide down over and become lockedby its upper edge under said beading of'the bottle.

2'. A bottle closure according to claim: 1 wherein said locking memberis made of a stiffer plastic than saidcap, portion and has a. two tothree; times thinner wall; thickness in its slotted portion than in itsunslotted lower portion, said slotted portion of said locking memberhaving a wall thickness of about 0.5- to 1 mm.

3'. A bottle closure according to claim, 1 wherein an-inwardlyprojecting beading is provided adjacent, the lower limit of thecircumferential recess of, the cap skirt.

4. A bottle closure according to claim 3 wherein, both the side wall ofthe circular groove of, the capskirt and the outsidesurface of thebeaded ring of the locking memher are conical so as to interfit witheach. other.

5. A molded plastic bottleclosure of substantially circularcross-section composed of a unitary cap member and a separate resilientlocking member firmly held therein and adapted to be locked on a bottle,

said cap member comprising a flexible plastic cover portion adapted toseal the mouth of a bottle, a skirt member depending from said coverportion and adapted to be spaced radially outward over said bottlemouth, theinner wall of said skirt member being provided with asubstantially circular groove near the lower edge thereof; and

said locking member comprising a hollow, truncated molded plastic conehaving a plurality of slots extending from the top down over a majorportion of its height and having a solid closed beaded ring near thebase thereof, said cone decreasing in diameter upwardly so that itsupper slottededge is; adapted to slidedown over and lock under-a beadingprovided on the neck of the bottle to be capped and so that said beadedring on thev cone is. adaptedto; be tightly'recessed in the: groove ofsaid cap skirt, thereby pre venting axial movement; or saidlocking:member in said closure 6a A bottle closure. according to claim 5 whereinsaid cap. member comprises: a sealing: collar depending from said coverportion and. adapted: to form a seal with the: inner- Wall of saidbottle: mouth;

7. A closure: according to claim 5 wherein said groove is formed by a:bead projecting inwardlyfrom said skirt and by an upwardly and inwardlyslanting portion of; said" skirt adapted. to abut: said enlarged ring ofsaid lockin member.

References Cited in the file of this patent- UNITED STATES PATENTS2,059,012 Morin r Oct. 27, L936 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,241,429 France Aug. 819

1. A TAMPERPROOF PLASTIC BOTTLE CLOSURE COMPOSED OF A UNITARY FLEXIBLEPLASTIC CAP MEMBER AND A SEPARATE RESILIENT LOCKING MEMBER TIGHTLY HELDTHEREIN AND ADAPTED TO BE LOCKED ON A BOTTLE HAVING A BEADING ON THENECK THEREOF, SAID FLEXIBLE PLASTIC CAP MEMBER COMPRISING A COVERPORTION ADAPTED TO FIT OVER THE MOUTH OF A BOTTLE, A SEALING COLLARDEPENDING FROM SAID COVER PORTION AND ADAPTED TO FORM A SEAL WITH THEINNER WALL OF SAID BOTTLE MOUTH, AND A SKIRT DEPENDING FROM SAID COVERPORTION AND SPACED RADIALLY OUTWARD FROM SAID COLLAR, THEREBY BEINGADAPTED TO SKIRT OVER THE OUTER MOUTH WALL OF SAID BOTTLE, SAID SKIRTHAVING A CIRCUMFERENTIAL RECESS IN A LOWER PORTION OF ITS INNER WALL;AND SAID LOCKING MEMBER COMPRISING A THIN HOLLOW TRUNCATED CONE PROVIDEDWITH A PLURALITY OF SLOTS EXTENDING FROM THE TOP DOWN OVER A MAJORPORTION OF ITS HEIGHT AND HAVING A SOLID BOTTOM BEADED EDGE OF ADIMENSION SUCH THAT IT IS ADAPTED TO BE TIGHTLY RECEIVED IN SAID RECESSOF THE SKIRT, SAID TRUNCATED CONE BEING DIMENSIONED SUCH THAT IT ISADAPTED TO SLIDE DOWN OVER AND BECOME LOCKED BY ITS UPPER EDGE UNDERSAID BEADING OF THE BOTTLE.